Computer systems are widely used and include personal computers, workstations, servers, and other systems.
An operating system (OS) is an important component of a computer system and comprises software that controls the allocation and usage of hardware resources, such as memory, processor time, data storage space, and peripheral devices, such as a monitor, input devices, and printers. Commonly-used operating systems include various forms of UNIX, including HP-UX (from the Hewlett-Packard Company of Palo Alto, Calif.), Solaris (from Sun Microsystems of Santa Clara, Calif.), IBM AIX (from International Business Machines Corp of Armonk, N.Y.), Linux and others, and various versions of Windows (from the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.).
Operating systems are often updated. An update may be in the form of an updated version of the operating system. An update may also be due to the installation or un-installation of a software or hardware component to the computer system.
It is desirable to improve computer systems and software. In particular, it is desirable to improve operating systems.